Chapter 204: Chapter 122: Wu Chuan: I’m up, got one-shotted by a glance
"Junior Brother Lin, I know you’re anxious, but this battle isn’t just a personal duel for you. It’s a fight for the sect’s honor and countless interests. You must be one hundred percent certain of victory before you make a move... We can’t afford to lose!"
"...I know."
Taking a deep breath, Lin Kong sat down, cradling his longsword. But the look in his eyes as he stared at the Qingyue Flying Ship only grew sharper.
He was searching for an opening, a flaw. The moment Zhong Ming showed the slightest weakness, he would strike without hesitation and cut him down.
...
And so, unable to tolerate failure, they sent out Wu Chuan, the senior brother of the Water Nether Sect. His orders were that even if he couldn’t win, he had to hold on for as long as possible.
Hearing this, Wu Chuan’s heart was filled with mixed emotions—he knew perfectly well he was being used as a sacrificial pawn to test the waters.
"CRACK..."
The thought caused his fists to clench tightly, but he soon let out a long breath, a fighting spirit igniting in his eyes.
’So what if I’m a pawn? It doesn’t mean I’m going to lose!’
With this mindset, Wu Chuan bid farewell to his fellow disciples from the Water Nether Sect and leaped toward Crescent Lake, his morale surprisingly high.
"Wu Chuan of the Water Nether Sect, here to ask for guidance!"
However, just as he arrived, full of fighting spirit, he was given a harsh ’lesson’.
Ji Qingyue’s lady-in-waiting, Mrs. Qin, stopped him midway. "A challenge requires a fee of eight hundred Spirit Stones. Please pay up."
"Huh? Eight hundred Spirit Stones? Why is it so expensive? You might as well just rob people!"
Wu Chuan exclaimed, full of disbelief.
’Robbing people isn’t as fast as earning Spirit Stones this way.’
Of course, Mrs. Qin, Ji Qingyue’s lady-in-waiting, would never say such a thing out loud. She simply stated with a calm expression, "Young Master Zhong Ming is the number one prodigy of the Prefecture City. His time is incredibly valuable. How could it be wasted on trash?"
"The eight-hundred-Spirit-Stone threshold was set simply to prevent irrelevant people from disturbing Young Master Zhong Ming."
"Of course, you can also choose another option. If you lose, you can join Princess Qingyue’s command and serve her. In that case, the Spirit Stone fee will be waived."
"..." As a vassal of the Void Moon Sect, it was impossible for him to join Princess Qingyue’s command. Left with no choice, he could only take out eight hundred Spirit Stones and place them in Mrs. Qin’s hands.
But after paying, the look he gave Zhong Ming grew even more vicious.
Meanwhile, although the shore of Crescent Lake was some distance from the center, most of the onlookers were Cultivators with sharp eyes and ears. They had heard Wu Chuan’s cry of surprise and seen him hand over the money.
And this gave the crowd a deeper ’understanding’ of Zhong Ming.
"Eight hundred Spirit Stones for a single challenge? He’s truly greedy!"
"I think it’s more about confidence... He genuinely believes his Talent and strength are superior to everyone else in Qingyue Prefecture City. Otherwise, he wouldn’t accept the money with such a clear conscience."
"Hehe, but there’s a side effect to taking money like this—that Wu Chuan is thoroughly enraged now. This next fight is going to be good."
After all the delays, the fight was finally starting. This made everyone straighten up and look toward the center of the lake.
Ji Qinghui, Ji Qingkang, and the True Disciples of the six major sects also stopped their idle chatter and gazed toward the center of the lake.
"Come, Zhong Ming! Let me see what abilities you have to dare call yourself number one in Qinghe Prefecture City."
Amidst the crowd’s anticipation, Wu Chuan stood tall in the center of the lake, his robes fluttering in the wind.
Just as everyone expected, having paid the fee, he was furious. This led him not to attack immediately but to first vent his anger with a passionate speech.
"Zhong Ming, you shouldn’t be so arrogant, and you certainly shouldn’t be so disrespectful to the Void Moon Sect! I’ll make you understand..."
Standing on the water’s surface, trying to alleviate the frustration of paying the fee and the anger of being used as a vanguard, he rambled on and on.
But before he could finish, he saw that Zhong Ming, sitting serenely on the luxurious Flying Ship, was like a Deity in the high heavens. His gaze swept over from afar.
*SWISH!*
Before that gaze even reached him, Wu Chuan’s heart suddenly clenched. A chill shot through his body, as if he’d been targeted by a natural predator.
’Danger!’
The extreme danger made his body tremble.
But he quickly remembered his preparations, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
But before he could fully exhale, he discovered that Zhong Ming’s gaze wasn’t directed at his body on the lake’s surface, but was looking straight... underwater!
’Oh no!’
Realizing this, his whole body tensed up, his soul felt like it was about to flee, and he subconsciously wanted to close his eyes.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Zhong Ming had already seen him.
And despite the vast distance, he too saw Zhong Ming. More than that, he saw that bright, brilliant, crimson pupil that quickly grew vast and magnificent.
*BOOM!*
The next moment, this crimson pupil was like a scorching Great Sun, filling his entire field of vision.
*VMMMM!* With a single rotation, the crimson Great Sun transformed into a coiling Candle Dragon. Soon, the Candlelight Dragon coalesced into a sword.
It was a Divine Sword that had condensed endless Sun God Power, its blade inscribed with the changing of the four seasons.
The rotation of the Great Sun sounds like it took a long time, but in reality, it didn’t even last a single breath.
At this moment, Wu Chuan hadn’t even had time to close his eyelids.
Magnificent, vast, its Divine Power unmatched... This was Wu Chuan’s assessment of that Great Sun, of that Sun God Sword. It was also his final thought.
*SWOOSH!*
Once the Divine Sword took form, it wasted almost no time before transforming into a magnificent torrent of light and crashing into Wu Chuan’s Sea of Consciousness.
Unsurprisingly, this one strike from the Sun God Sword directly shattered Wu Chuan’s Sea of Consciousness. The torrent of light, filled with vast Divine Power, instantly crushed his every thought.
"Yaaawn..."
After that one glance, Zhong Ming yawned, rubbed his eyes, and said lazily to Ji Qingyue:
"Wake me up when someone else comes to challenge me."
With that, he closed his eyes again and continued to bask in the sunlight, as if what he had just done was nothing more than swatting an annoying mosquito.
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Ji Qingyue was a little stunned.
But she quickly thought of something and her gaze snapped toward the center of the lake.
Then she saw it. There, Wu Chuan’s figure on the surface of the lake had simply disintegrated, like a bubble.
Below the surface, however, a figure with tightly closed eyes and blood streaming from its seven orifices was sinking toward the bottom of the lake.
At this point, how could Ji Qingyue not understand? The person challenging Zhong Ming had been defeated in an instant with a single glance.
"What in the world is this ability?"
Although she had already witnessed it twice, seeing it for a third time, Ji Qingyue was still completely and utterly shocked by this inscrutable, god-like ability.
If she was like this, the Cultivators on the shore of Crescent Lake seeing Zhong Ming’s ability for the first time were even more so—their pupils contracted, their faces filled with disbelief.
At this moment, silence once again fell over the shore of Crescent Lake. But this time, it wasn’t due to the strange and complex situation, but because the absolute shock left everyone speechless.
"Wh-what was that?"
"R-really? With just one glance?!"
"Yesterday, I heard someone say Zhong Ming could defeat enemies with just his gaze. I thought it was an exaggeration, but I never expected it to be completely true!"
"My god! A late-stage Qi Cultivation Cultivator, gone just like that, without even a chance to attack? With that kind of power... maybe Zhong Ming isn’t just boasting. Maybe he really is number one in the Prefecture City!"
"I thought he was arrogant before, but now... I’m actually starting to believe it..."
There was no earth-shattering roar of Magic Techniques, no flash of incomparably sharp Sword Light, not even a single deliberate ripple of aura was revealed—Zhong Ming had merely opened his eyes lazily, cast a casual glance, and the aggressive senior brother of the Water Nether Sect was left bleeding from his seven orifices, his Divine Soul severely wounded!
This kind of overwhelming victory, which defied all common sense, completely subverted the Cultivators’ understanding of the word "strength."
The onlookers, who had previously been watching for entertainment, were now all silent. The gazes they directed at the leisurely figure on the Flying Ship had long since shifted from curiosity and mockery to deep, profound awe.
Some of the more timid Cultivators even subconsciously lowered their heads, not daring to even look in Zhong Ming’s direction, terrified that his seemingly placid gaze might fall upon them.
But the deterrent power of Zhong Ming’s single glance went far beyond just intimidating ordinary Cultivators.
The disciples from the Major Sects, who had originally seen Zhong Ming as a mere pawn, now all had their pupils constricted.
And Ji Qinghui and Ji Qingkang, the two Commandery Princes, also shot bolt upright in their seats!
